Of Baking and Kisses
by DragonMistress-Rose
Summary: It's Koh's birthday and some close friends in the Union have a surprise party planned! Just something cute and fluffy and not much plot. Slight bit of romance theme but otherwise very general.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story but the idea.

 **A/N:** A quick little piece for some of you since I've meant to update _Memories Return_ but my laptop's battery needed to be replaced so I am currently without the in progress chapter I wanted to work. I'm also going on vacation for a couple weeks so I figured I'd pop in and drop a quick little one-shot in everyone's lap. Especially since I head canon Koh's birthday to be in July this was too perfect. Enjoy!

* * *

Dark Moon was as busy as ever, the hustle and bustle of Tamers going about and friends meeting up gave the city a much livelier feel than one would expect from its given name. Several groups of Tamers and digimon alike were gathered around the large fountain at Dark Hall, many of which were simply enjoying the relaxing sound of the rushing water and its cool mist.

"Sayo!" a high pitched voice yelled from a distance.

"Hm?" said girl turned to see her teammate and undeniably best friend Dorothy running-actually more like bounding- toward her; a good half a dozen shopping bags in hand. Smiling softly she stood and raised a hand to give a slight wave as the other girl came within actual speaking distance.

"Glad to see you're here earlier than planned!" Dorothy beamed, taking deep breaths as she tried to catch her breath, her cheeks flushed. Sayo offered her some of the blended coffee she had in hand and sat back down, motioning for the other girl to sit along the fountain's edge with her.

"How was it?" Sayo finally spoke as she was handed back a little less than half of what she had offered to the other girl.

"So, I got all the stuff we needed off the list," Dorothy excitedly swung her feet back and forth as she showed Sayo some of the items she had purchased earlier. Making sure to keep them still under wraps. "Eliza and the Pandamon at the craft store were amazing enough to help me match up and find the right sizes and colours for everything. Kakumi is still out looking for some stuff since she wanted the decorations to be spectacular. She said, and I quote, "Koh deserves the best decorations and I won't settle for anything less!" so she is Sukikiyo are still out. Newton and some of the boys are getting the balloons and stuff and Pulsa and them are making the food. How about you?"

"Litton is out with Koh right now and keeping him occupied. I think she's arranged it so that they will "run into" Raigo while they're out and hopefully they can keep him entertained for a few hours. It'll give me just enough time to head over to his place and start the baking." she tilted her head toward the canvas bag sitting at her feet containing baking ingredients.

"He'll be so happy to see this all, 16 is suuuch an exciting age." Dorothy giggled.

Sayo got up to toss away what little was left of her drink before returning and picking up her bag. "Ready to go?"

"Yep! You have the pass code?"

"Of course I do, he hasn't changed it in years. He's lucky no one wants him dead or anything because otherwise it would be too easy to get in." Sayo said with a sigh before she headed toward the gate entrance, with Dorothy not too far behind.

"Are we warping to Sun Shine or are we going to walk it there?"

"Normally I'd say walk because I enjoy it, but with Koh being unpredictable and us not knowing how much time we have I'd say we warp it."

"You got it captain." Dorothy said with mock seriousness and a half hearted salute. This sent both girls into a giggle fit as they stepped into the warp pad at the Terminal and were sent on their way to the other half the Digital City.

As the data particles reassembled around them the girls made a beeline straight for Shine Plaza where the entrance gates for Light Fang Tamer homes were located. After scanning in her digivice's code for Koh's house Sayo quickly punched in the pin, allowing for the warp pad to activate.

"Woooow, you've got it pretty much memorized by now huh?" Dorothy commented a hint of teasing in her voice.

"More or less, we come and go from each other's places enough for it to be as easy as getting into our own places." Dorothy stifled another giggle as the two girls entered the familiar home. Gatomon greeted them and took a couple bags from Dorothy as they made their way into the living room. Sayo went straight to the kitchen and started to unpack her bag pulling out what looked like enough ingredients to bake not just one cake but an entire bakery's worth of sweets. She took out a carton of cream and placed it in the fridge before setting boxes of berries aside.

"You've got so much stuff in that little bag!" the aqua haired girl swiped a raspberry from the container and popped it in her mouth.

"If you organize properly everything can fit in the right bag. It's just a matter of figuring out the placement of items." Sayo pulled out another container of raspberries and rinsed them off before tossing them in a bowl. "These are for you all to snack on, everything else here is for me to bake a cake with." Dorothy eagerly snatched up the bowl and grinned.

"That's really thoughtful of you Sayo. If you ever get around to making more jam I'd love to get some more, store bought is hard to go back to when I've had real homemade jam." Sayo merely smiled and shrugged as she began to tie her hair up and put on an apron. Dorothy took this as a sign to proceed to the living room to help Gatomon decorate for the upcoming surprise party.

Sayo pulled out her digivice and held it out in front of her, "Lunamon realize, Lalamon realize, Gaomon realize." Three simultaneous streams of data poured out of the digivice giving form to her partner digimon. "We've only got a few hours to make the cake, ready to help me get it done?"

"Yeah!" Lunamon bounced up to a stool and waited for instructions as the other two nodded with her.

"Good. Lunamon separate for me two dozen egg yolks, don't throw away the whites though, I need those. We're going to be making a lot of cake."

"Okay!" with steady hands she began cracking the eggs and separating them into bowls.

"Alright, Lalamon could you boil down half of the raspberries and make a syrup out of them for me? Don't make it too sweet though and make it a little more watery than usual."

"You got it." the pink digimon replied as she set a pan on the stove and began adding the berries and the sugar along with some water.

"Gaomon, can you measure out and sift all the dry ingredients through that sieve and into a bowl?"

"Yes ma'am, how much of everything?"

"I need 6 1/2 cups of flour, 5 cups of sugar, 3 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder, and 3 teaspoons of salt. Be careful with it though, that stuff tends to fly everywhere if you're too rough." with the instructions all dealt out Sayo began to pull out large cake tins and an electric hand mixer. "When you're done with the eggs Lunamon I need you to hand me the egg whites and if you could, please line the tins with the parchment paper on the counter."

"Got it~! Almost done, I only have a few more eggs to crack."

"No rush, we don't want shells getting into our cake."

As soon as Lunamon finished with her eggs she handed the bowl full of whites to Sayo and set to the task of carefully lining the cake tins. Sayo dropped in a few pinches of the cream of tartar into the egg whites before she began beating the whites into fluffy mounds. From there she took the dry ingredients from Gaomon and poured in oil, water, and the egg yolks before whisking everything in the bowl together. Placing that bowl aside she picked up a spatula and spooned in a third of the whipped egg whites.

"Sayo, the syrup is done." Lalamon said floating nearby.

"Thank you, can one of you preheat the oven for me? I need it at 325 degrees." Sayo said as she folded the egg whites into the mixture. She was almost done before Dorothy entered the kitchen with an empty bowl in her hand.

"What are you making?" she asked as she eyed the batter, "It doesn't look like normal cake batter at all."

Sayo gave a soft grunt before speaking, "It's a sponge cake, you fold in whipped egg whites to make the batter light and fluffy so that when it's all baked the cake is soft and spongy, not dense like regular cake. Koh liked it a lot when he tried some at one of the bakeries in Sun Shine, so I thought it would be a good birthday cake." Sayo tipped the last of the egg whites in before continuing to fold the batter. "He's not too into those denser cakes where simple syrup is used to keep it moist and I don't think he will want a wildly flavoured one either." Once she was done she began pouring even amounts of batter into the cake tins. "One of you help me put this in the oven." Dorothy picked up one of the tins while Sayo held the other two in her hands as Gaomon opened the oven, jerking back as the hot air caught him off guard.

After closing the oven and setting the timer Sayo turned around to clear off the counter. "Now I have to do the filling and decorations." She pulled out a cutting board and began slicing half of the strawberries and chopping up the other half.

"I never knew how much work went into baking this stuff. It all seems so simple." Dorothy commented from her place on the stool. She tried grabbing a berry but Sayo shot her a sharp look and she retracted her hand.

"Cooking isn't an exact science but baking is. Which by the way if Newton says otherwise he doesn't know anything. But that's why even people who can cook really well can't even bake a single cookie right. It isn't hard per say but it definitely takes a lot of exact measurements and whatnot to get good at baking."

"Makes sense as to why you can bake so well then." chirped Dorothy from her stool.

"And what is that suppose to mean?" Sayo quirked an eyebrow but otherwise kept up her work. The digimon had since disappeared into the now presumably decorated living room.

"You've had the biggest sweet tooth since like ever Sayo. It's no wonder you learned how to bake, it's a necessary skill if you're ever going to maintain your cravings. Besides it comes in handy, guys love girls who can cook and baking is just the icing on the cake!" she winked toward the other girl as she laughed at her own joke. Sayo flushed lightly but didn't say anything, instead she only focused on the task at hand.

"Have you heard anything from Raigo?" she asked trying to divert the conversation into less incriminating waters as she turned to the fridge and grabbed the cream she had placed in there earlier. She quickly rinsed off the whisks before she began whipping the cream up.

"Yeah, he sent me a message not too long ago. They're keeping Koh pretty busy, convinced him to take on a supposedly quick search quest that is going to drag out a little longer than expected." the tone in the other girl's voice was dripping with the mischievous hints of what was really going on with the quest.

"That's actually quite brilliant."

"I know right? That way if we need more time we can just ask them to take a while longer, we don't have to worry too much about Koh barging in while we're in the middle of it all." Setting whisk down Sayo placed the bowls in the fridge to chill while she waited on the cake.

"Is there anything else that needs to be done?" Sayo asked removing her apron and wiping down the counter-top. Gaomon had come and cleared off the table and had started on the dishes, stopping to briefly pat him on the head Sayo continued with her cleaning.

"Nope, everything we have here is finished. Now we're just waiting on everyone else. The cake has about another 40 minutes on it and then it had to cool before I can decorate, we can take a breather in the mean time though."

The two girls made their way to the living room where the various decorations had been hung up and the furniture had been rearranged to make more room for the hoard of people that would soon occupy the space. Taking seats on the couch that had been pushed against a wall both allowed themselves to slump into the cushy material.

"Planning parties is so tiring." Sayo muttered as she stretched out.

"I know, but it will be so worth it! I am super psyched to see Koh's face when he comes home! Aren't you?"

"Of course I am, we all didn't put this much hard work to not be excited to see his reaction." Dorothy yawned and leaned against Sayo's shoulder. "You better not fall asleep," Sayo warned.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry I won't. Even if I'm tired my mind is racing just thinking about the party there is no way I could fall asleep."

"Good. Because if you do I'm not responsible for whatever may happen to you."

A mortified gasp left Dorothy's mouth as she sat straight up and pouted, "You're soooo mean!"

"And yet we're still best friends." Both girls laughed as the digimon gathered around them, excitement already buzzing in the air.

xXx

With all the decorations all hung up and everything in place the guest were just waiting on the birthday boy himself. Pulsa along with Komachi had worked together with Kenpa and her team to cook up most of the food. Kakumi and Sukikiyo had finally come by with the rest of the decorations and more or less all the invited Tamers had arrived. The only people missing were Koh and the two Legendary Tamers keeping him busy for the day.

"Raigo just sent a message!" Dorothy nearly yelled at the top of her lungs to get everyone's attention. The room instantly went silent at her announcement and all eyes turned to the aqua haired girl. "He says they just made it back into Sun Shine and that they'll be here in a couple minutes, so turn off the lights and hide everyone!" just as quickly as she had said that every light in the home went off and everyone got down.

The silence felt like an eternity but before long the sound of the warp pad activating alerted everyone of the approaching people.

"Why is it so dark?" a younger male voice asked as the light blue glow died away.

"I dunno, kinda strange isn't it?" an obviously older male spoke, humor lacing the words.

"It isn't like anyone should be asleep, it's too early.

"Well, I mean just turn on the lights and see what's up." and just like that the lights flickered back on and the hiding Tamers jumped up.

"Surprise! Happy birthday!" yelled everyone, in less than perfect unison but the over-lapping voices conveyed the warmth of friendship as Koh's face went from shocked to an ear-splitting grin.

"Did you guys really do all of this?" he couldn't wipe the huge smile off of his face as he was bombarded with hugs and slaps to the back.

"Of course we did!" Pulsa replied, clapping a hand to his back. "That's what friends do!"

"Especially since you're 16 now!" Komachi added.

"We made food and everything, so let's get the party started!"

The food was spread out on the kitchen counter buffet style; the Tamers helped themselves to whatever they wanted before everyone settled down in the living room to chat and exchange pleasantries. The digimon were released and allowed to roam and play around in the excitement as well.

"-yeah so like Raigo literally lead me in the other direction during the quest today! It took me forever to figure out that he was wrong and we could've been done sooooo much sooner!" Koh threw a glare at Raigo who simply shrugged.

"What can I say? I'm good at distractions and it's not my fault you decided to follow me the entire time."

"It was because I trusted you!" Koh let out a exasperated sigh before he returned to telling everyone about the rest of his day.

Across the room Sayo sat with Litton chatting away.

"Did you get him anything Litton?" Sayo asked as she moved the leftovers on the plate around.

"Yeah, I got him some stuff for his Farm Island, he's been wanting some more training stuff for his digimon but you know how the good ones cost a fortune. So I saved up a little and got him a couple nice things. What about you?" she asked taking a sip of her soda.

"I didn't really know what to get him. He's kind of hard to shop for, so I figured baking a special cake would suffice. Or does that seem like I just didn't try enough?" she frown and furrowed her brows in irritation. Sayo had tried, she really did, but she couldn't find a single thing she thought Koh would like in her weeks of shopping. She didn't like being empty handed when birthdays came around but this was one where she just couldn't get a good idea for a present.

It felt like a fat cop out to call the cake her present.

"Nah, sometimes the best ones are presents that don't have a physical form. It's the thought that counts." Litton offered a reassuring smile to the disheartened girl.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's awkward that I don't really have anything."

"Then can I make a suggestion?"

"Go for it, it isn't like I can run out and get it now." Sayo rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she waited for the other girl to go on.

"A kiss."

Sayo jerked back in surprise, eyes wide as she blinked several times. After processing what had just been said she couldn't find the words to string together into a reply.

"I'm sure he'd think that a kiss from you would be the best present ever." she tried searching for a teasing tone in that voice but found none at all. Litton was dead serious about a kiss. She was actually suggesting that Sayo give Koh a kiss as a birthday present.

"You can't honestly-" before she could get another word out Dorothy ran up to her and grabbed Sayo's hand.

"C'mon, let's get the cake." the persistent tugging on her hand forced her up and into the kitchen leaving the smiling blonde by herself. The cake was being retrieved from the refrigerator by Gatomon who carefully laid it out on the counter. Earlier she had frosted the cake with the whipped cream and painstakingly decorated it with the strawberries along the side and top, as well as piped the birthday message on top. "I've got the candles; I don't want ruin the beautiful work on top of the cake though." Dorothy said handing a few of the thin sticks to Sayo.

"Just place them around the edges." Sayo replied as she began pushing the unlit candles into the fluffy cream and down into the soft cake, her mind still going over the suggestion earlier.

As the last candle was placed Komachi came in to join them. "Everything ready? Everyone's at the table waiting." Dorothy had the match in hand and was lighting the candles.

"Yep! All done," Dorothy cheerily sang after putting out the match beside Sayo, who had delicately picked up the large and cake and steadied it in her hands. "Go ahead and start and we'll be right out."

"You got it." the brunette disappeared into the next room and before long they could hear a loud and slightly off note chorus of 'Happy Birthday' being sung.

"That's our cue with the cake." the song was just finishing as the two girls entered with the cake. It was like a sea of Tamers had parted as Sayo made her way to the table and set the cake down before moving away. The awe on Koh's face rivaled the candles in light as he stared at the beautifully done pastry in front of him.

"Make a wish." Sayo said with a tinge of excitement in her voice. Koh hastily nodded before closing his eyes and blowing out the candle as a loud eruption of cheers came from around him.

The smell of smoke filled the air as Sayo began pulling out the now used candles and Dorothy had brought forward a knife for the cake cutting. "First cut and slice goes to the birthday boy!" Raigo exclaimed passing a paper plate into Koh's hand.

"Where'd you get this cake? It looks delicious." Koh commented, carefully cutting a healthy piece from the corner of the cake. Litton shoved a fork into his piece as he handed the knife over to her to cut while Sayo distributed the pieces to the waiting mass of Tamers and digimon alike.

"Didn't you know?" Newton asked as he accepted a piece of cake from his teammate.

"Know what?"

"Sayo bakes!" interjected Dorothy as she got her piece.

"No way."

"Yes way!" Dorothy shot back as she forked a bit of cake into her mouth, Sayo had made sure she got a corner piece full of whipped cream. Though it didn't seem like it Sayo was keeping a careful ear on the conversation, she was always curious to see what people thought of her creations; especially when it came to special occasions. "She's really good, she does it all the time and always gives out the extras. Her stuff is pretty popular in Dark Moon since we sometimes have her do a little baking for celebrations and stuff. Of course we chip in and cover the supplies and all that."

"Wow, I never would have thought." Koh glanced down at what was left of his cake, which by now had been mostly shoved in his face while Dorothy was talking.

"Thought what? That I baked?" Sayo said as she joined their little group, her own piece of cake in hand.

"I don't know, I guess I always kind of imagined that you'd be more into cooking exotic dishes or something, not baking."

"I mean I probably could do that. I'm not too shabby at cooking either but baking is more like a hobby and cooking is out of actual necessity." she had begun to neatly cut off a piece of her cake with the fork before lifting it to her mouth.

"So what do you think of the cake Koh?" Raigo said as he passed by, "By the way Chief Julia said sorry she couldn't make it, Union duties have had her all tied up lately. But she sends her best wishes."

"It's all good, I know Chief Glare has been really busy lately too. Must be all the preparations for the upcoming tournament. But yeah, the cake is really good! I didn't know Sayo baked, kind of feeling a little left out that you all kept it from me." Koh jokingly pouted at the Night Claws around him, which elicited laughter all around.

"If it makes you feel better she doesn't do it often."

"But when she does it's full of love! Right?" Dorothy giggled as she looked toward her friend. Sayo only rolled her eyes and kept eating her cake.

"Just finish your cake Dorothy." was all that was said.

"I'll take that as a yes." the other girl hummed as she polished off the last bits and pieces on her plate.

"Definitely full of love." Raigo commented before making his way toward where Litton stood.

xXx

After the cake was done and over with presents where exchanged and to Sayo's surprise she wasn't the only one without a present to give. Though Koh didn't mind at all he rather enjoyed the company of his friends and anything else was just extra. With the festivities over and the clock nearing midnight many decided to call it quits and take their leave. The cleaning had already been taken care of courtesy of Gatomon and Kenpa but all in all it was a well spent night.

Litton stood at the warp pad with Sayo exchanging 'good-byes' but before leaving she turned to face the other girl. "Hey, remember what I said about that present." she winked and disappeared in the data before Sayo could form a reply, leaving her and Koh alone in the boy's home. Sighing she turned back into the house and walked over to the living room where Koh and the digimon were busily rearranging the furniture back into its proper place.

"Did you have fun?" Sayo said as she leaned against the table.

"Yeah, lots!" he said as he stood up, "Thanks again for it all. Wasn't at all expecting something this big."

"Hey, 16 is an important age."

"Yeah, it means we're not bratty little kids anymore, we're just half as bratty." he grinned and she smiled.

"I'm sure she Chiefs will be thrilled to hear that revelation from you." a silence enveloped them as Sayo thought about Litton's earlier words and Koh returned to fixing his living room. Maybe the older girl was right and it was something she could give him. And if it all failed she could blame it on Litton. Either way it wasn't sounding all too bad right now at 11:30 at night. "Hey, Koh..." she broke the silence first, pushing off the table and making her way towards him.

"Hmm?" he looked up at her.

"I have something to give you."

A look of confusion washed over his features as Sayo stood right in front of him, face to face. "A present? I thought we already went through them all."

"We did, I just figured that I could give you this as well." without waiting for a reply she leaned up and planted her lips firmly on his right cheek. And just as quickly as she did it she retreated and took a step back, her own cheeks dusted a light pink as Koh's face went red. "Happy birthday." she murmured.

Face still red and hot Koh busted into a wide smile, "Thank you! You really do give the best presents."

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 **A/N:** Cute and fluffy right? I kind of really head canon that Sayo has a sweet tooth so she learned how to bake so she wouldn't have to spend money buying stuff all the time. This was supposed to be shorter, what happened?

Although I was playing around with writing style a little bit here, I'm not too sure how I feel about it though...

I'll try to get the next chapter of _Memories Return_ done when I come back since my laptop should be in by then, but until then would you all be so kind as to drop a little review for me?

Love,

Dragon


End file.
